Chain control over Donner Summit on I-80 is initiated by Cal Trans (Ca. Dot) and enforced by the CHP when winter weather conditions are in effect. I'm very familiar with winter driving over Donner Summit. Cal Trans and Law Enforcement are attempting to slow traffic down to prevent accidents and save lives not to inconvenience drivers. The maximum speed limit during chain control for ALL vehicles is set at 30 mph. Chains are required on the drive axles for safety of all the motoring public. The only exclusion is a 4 wheel drive vehicle w/snow tires or passenger vehicle with snow tires on the drive axle. During a snow storm, the Cal Trans plow trucks make many passes over Donner Summit, distributing sand and plowing the fallen snow and ice from the rdwy. Cal Trans monitors the rdwy. on a continuous basis. The weather over Donner Summit constantly changes during a snow storm. Motorists including big rig drivers loose control during any type of inclement weather even with snow and slush on the rdwy. The 30 mph chain control speed limit is in effect because the weather changes so quickly and also is for stupid, ignorant idiot drivers who think just because they have never spun out on an icy/snowy rdwy. yet, it must be okay for them to remove their snow chains and put the rest of the motoring public in harms way. Chain control can be in effect during any month of the year including the Summer months. Quit your bitching, drive safely and have a nice day. 🥶🏔
Donner pass is a gorgeous drive. But heaven help you if you get caught behind an accident. I’ve been fortunate. All accidents I’ve encountered were on the opposite direction but I thanked God anyway. And said a prayer for the injured. And yes, a lot of fools driving too. No consideration for faster drivers to move over. I ran into a rain/snow/hail storm going up and over in June 2016. Loved it. 👊🏼
Strange how most rest of the US do not use tire chains, shut down roads, or have crews on the side of the road to shake down drivers. Talk about extortion
You do realize that in this area "All Weather" 80 is a four lane (2 in both directions) mountain pass. Donner Summit (named after the ill fated Donner Party) is 7,239 ft (over a mile & half above sea level) and has grades between 3 to 6% for over 30 miles. Donner Summit averages 34 feet of snow annually and white out conditions occur. You cannot cross the summit in snow conditions without 4 wheel drive with show tires or chains - even then CalTrans will sometimes close the road to all traffic if conditions get bad enough. FYI - California allows driver to install their own chains. No one is forced to use private chain installers.
I was told by a old timer that It's all business, I drove charters through Donner pass for over 6 years and alot of the time was just like this, and the cables that we used would break and get caught in the axles.
The thing is, the weather and road conditions can change in a few minutes up there. Instead of waiting for a pileup to happen, they are trying to keep it from happening. Is it frustrating? Absolutely! But it may be saving a lot of hassle for them if the weather does change to where chains are actually needed.
@@jeepnut779 I've driven that pass a few times in the past. Once I had to go south through Los Vegas and come up thru the valley heading to Petaluma CA. I was thinking they did it to keep the trucks from going faster. And you know as well as anyone else, conditions can change in minutes at D pass and Wendover pass. When one's job reloves around speed and time, having to chain up sucks. And so does when a big rig loses it and ends up blocking the hwy for EVERYONE for hours because they tried to shave a few minutes off their trip. But no one talks about that elephant in the room. Drive safe.. 73's
Wow! This is absolutely fascinating. I live in Washington. And I'm obsessed with mountains rivers and all geography. I've seen old western videos from around 1930 - 1940 of Donner pass but never seen anything since infrastructure was built. After this I'm looking to see if you have more trucking videos and if so I'm subscribing. 😍🤩 May have to anyway since my BFF is a Jeep owner. This entire video will make watching Western films so much more interesting
It's the bay area people that mess this pass up, doing 70-80 in this type of condition. Then the unprofessional truck drivers from NOT the USA that cause the big rig wrecks.
need to chain up the cars to slow them down. many a time with snow on the rd, a car would blast past me, within 10 miles i would pass them up while they are trying to get out of the ditch. donner pass kills people every year. need to respect the hill. and it becomes easy. cold winter. hot summer just take it easy never try to "make time. and you will get there safe and sound. and the area between the summit and kyburg is a ice area. even in the summer the bridges can ice up.
Big Bear. 2" of snow and there they are, CHP chain police. I told the CHP I am a 4x4 Ford F250, from Connecticut, "I GOT THIS" he said "and a ticket". Chains, for all intent and purpose are more dangerous and useless especially with only a few inches of snow...... Pathetic!!!
CA DOT always have done me kindly! Once I drove from Rancho cochomongo , essentially Ontario CA to Stockton CA with 43,000 in trailer and couldn't slide my tandems to where I was legal and point was 42 inches and two scales never called me on it . Have done this a couple times and they green light me . Guess if you look like you comb your hair , clean shaven and wear non torn clothes plus your dash isn't full of 20ltrs and burger wrappers you must be a real trucker doing a job not because your a Social psycho with bad breath !
watch out thers a flak of snow slam on your brakes dont go no more put more chains on now you need them to go down hill put some chains on the stear axel and stering weeal so you hans dont slip that will make ca dot happy !
I am in California.. Originally and VERY proudly hailing from Connecticut where we shoveled snow in flip flops and shorts. We drove in snow and ice at a skill set California's could not even imagine. He'll, in California, one rain drop or snowflake they are calling out the national guard, calling off work, and chaining up....
Road ice is real. Your chains are keeping you on the road, not your driving skills. You should’ve put your window down and told those ladies and gentlemen at the checkpoint how you really feel. I’m grateful they’re here without fail to keep people like you alive regardless of how much of you moan and gripe.
Very wrong answer!!! Chains are one thing, if that, but your DRIVING SKILL AND EXPERIENCE are ABSOLUTELY what keeps you on the road. Born and raised in CT with 9 years of Winter driving experience. I had a VW Beetle and Ford F250 4x4 Xcab w/12" lift n Super Stampers AND Mickey Thompsons. Neither vehicle, did I ever need chains much less think about them. New England winters n NorEasters were anything to laugh at. Drove in ALL kinds of snow and ice.. STUDDED all terrains
@@billm4133 “Very wrong answer!!!” That’s you, yelling, correct? No need for insults either. We get all types in the Sierra Nevada telling us where they’re from and how everyone there knows how to drive perfectly in snow and ice. I’m happy for you in CT but that’s not reality in the Sierras. In order to keep the interstate freeways open rigs and 2wd vehicles are required to use chains when told.
"Wrong answer pal" Driving skills AND experience are requisites of this trade. Its not the chains "per say" that are saving lives and accidents. Certainly not safety crews and ambulance chasers. I know your argument here. You want to make this 5th grade we can. You want to do 545 Statistics we can. What is killing us, on any highway and in all conditions is the unskilled driver playing operator paid for by your tax dollar to put another driver on the road after three weeks of training. CHAINS are just the opposite of the skilled operator and those of us that KNOW Donner Pass, Independence Pass, Cabbage Patch, Grapevine, The Devils Twins, Big Bear, Wells, Pigeon River-Green River Basins, Connecticut, Maine, Up-State New York, Bismarck, so on. YOUR big trucking company's for this entire area of Donner Pass teach Chaining-up. THEY DO NOT TEACH SKILL OF THE TRADE. Period. The chains are used as a "trade-off" for the requisite skills. Shouting or highlighted bothers me not how you look at this situation. What bothers me is the lack of enthusiasm and motivation to train the drivers as operators for the sake of a dollar and a cheap (over priced/over rated) stafford loan sitting in a warm cubicle doing these exact trade-offs. Screw a chain. Get off the road, stop the truck or get yourself a helicopter pilot or a donkey w/a wheelbarrow and deliver your own textbooks, kubota's, little red shoes and General Mills pop-tarts. So since the weather will change in a moments notice there, is no different anywhere else. Driving skills AND experience pays off regardless of a damn chain. If you need chains...STOP. Chains stay in the bags, not hanging behind a fuel tank to get a "pass" at the scale house for the green light to keep your load going. My equipment is not worth your load assignment. My "life" will not hang in the balance based on a tire chain. STOP. STOP.
Hood-mounted and fender-mounted mirrors are often convex mirrors with deep curves to help truckers when changing lanes and backing into spaces. Learn something before opening your trap.
@@pattygonzales9605 kiss my ass. I know exactly what the purpose of the mirrors are sparky. I’m sitting in my tenth and last Kenworth W 900. I know more about trucks than you will ever know. Turned my first mile in 79’. It’s sad and pathetic what has happened to the trucking industry. Ugly tractors that are never washed driven by depressed and angry assholes who drive angry. The chronic tailgating and illegal and unsafe lane changes have disgusted the public. Back in the day there were good looking rigs drivers were proud to drive. We were the “ Knights of the highway.”When you mount mirrors on your hood/ fenders you ruin the look of a tractor. Doesn’t really matter when the overall look of the vehicle is ugly. I’ll be done by Christmas and happy to get off the road. Weary of sharing the road with escapees from mental hospitals. If you can’t drive a rig without mirrors on your hood you have no business driving. 3.35 million miles without them so that’s proof they are unnecessary. It’s an insurance company mandate in many cases
@@pattygonzales9605 I’ve climbed Donner Pass hundreds of times in all conditions and have never needed mirrors on my hood to get the job done. I’ve changed lanes millions of times and never needed hood mounted mirrors to do so. I guess when you drive a piece of shit it doesn’t matter if you Mount mirrors on your hood
I was taught to not run chains on bare pavement.
Most of the time,they chain the truckers up just to slow them down
The Road Pirates in California and Colorado are the worst when it comes to these stupid chain laws.
Same with Arkansas their roads are crap too
Hey kudos to your channel… loved the ride down off the summit…
I call em chain control mafia.
lol
Chain control over Donner Summit on I-80 is initiated by Cal Trans (Ca. Dot) and enforced by the CHP when winter weather conditions are in effect. I'm very familiar with winter driving over Donner Summit. Cal Trans and Law Enforcement are attempting to slow traffic down to prevent accidents and save lives not to inconvenience drivers. The maximum speed limit during chain control for ALL vehicles is set at 30 mph. Chains are required on the drive axles for safety of all the motoring public. The only exclusion is a 4 wheel drive vehicle w/snow tires or passenger vehicle with snow tires on the drive axle. During a snow storm, the Cal Trans plow trucks make many passes over Donner Summit, distributing sand and plowing the fallen snow and ice from the rdwy. Cal Trans monitors the rdwy. on a continuous basis. The weather over Donner Summit constantly changes during a snow storm. Motorists including big rig drivers loose control during any type of inclement weather even with snow and slush on the rdwy. The 30 mph chain control speed limit is in effect because the weather changes so quickly and also is for stupid, ignorant idiot drivers who think just because they have never spun out on an icy/snowy rdwy. yet, it must be okay for them to remove their snow chains and put the rest of the motoring public in harms way. Chain control can be in effect during any month of the year including the Summer months. Quit your bitching, drive safely and have a nice day. 🥶🏔
Donner pass is a gorgeous drive. But heaven help you if you get caught behind an accident. I’ve been fortunate. All accidents I’ve encountered were on the opposite direction but I thanked God anyway. And said a prayer for the injured. And yes, a lot of fools driving too. No consideration for faster drivers to move over. I ran into a rain/snow/hail storm going up and over in June 2016. Loved it. 👊🏼
Strange how most rest of the US do not use tire chains, shut down roads, or have crews on the side of the road to shake down drivers. Talk about extortion
You do realize that in this area "All Weather" 80 is a four lane (2 in both directions) mountain pass. Donner Summit (named after the ill fated Donner Party) is 7,239 ft (over a mile & half above sea level) and has grades between 3 to 6% for over 30 miles. Donner Summit averages 34 feet of snow annually and white out conditions occur. You cannot cross the summit in snow conditions without 4 wheel drive with show tires or chains - even then CalTrans will sometimes close the road to all traffic if conditions get bad enough. FYI - California allows driver to install their own chains. No one is forced to use private chain installers.
There are 40 million people in the state and most of them do not know how to drive in the snow. This is why.
You need to read up on chain laws, and their are other western states that require you to carry chains. If you don't like it don't go out west.
💪💪💪💪🙏🙏🙏🇺🇸 As a four wheeler I get mad at people on their stupid phones, I can only imagine what you guys feel like
Ive been up there and not snowing just wet and still required chains!
I was told by a old timer that It's all business, I drove charters through Donner pass for over 6 years and alot of the time was just like this, and the cables that we used would break and get caught in the axles.
Well I drive over it every single day
Get socks my brother. They're legal and so nice. Been driving the NW and Canada for years
The thing is, the weather and road conditions can change in a few minutes up there. Instead of waiting for a pileup to happen, they are trying to keep it from happening. Is it frustrating? Absolutely! But it may be saving a lot of hassle for them if the weather does change to where chains are actually needed.
I drive over that pass everyday in a semi truck takes just more than a few minutes to change
@@jeepnut779 I've driven that pass a few times in the past. Once I had to go south through Los Vegas and come up thru the valley heading to Petaluma CA. I was thinking they did it to keep the trucks from going faster. And you know as well as anyone else, conditions can change in minutes at D pass and Wendover pass. When one's job reloves around speed and time, having to chain up sucks. And so does when a big rig loses it and ends up blocking the hwy for EVERYONE for hours because they tried to shave a few minutes off their trip. But no one talks about that elephant in the room. Drive safe.. 73's
and the Highway Patrol should have known there was NO need for chains. And could have known from a weather report if needed anytime soon.
Wow! This is absolutely fascinating. I live in Washington. And I'm obsessed with mountains rivers and all geography. I've seen old western videos from around 1930 - 1940 of Donner pass but never seen anything since infrastructure was built. After this I'm looking to see if you have more trucking videos and if so I'm subscribing. 😍🤩 May have to anyway since my BFF is a Jeep owner.
This entire video will make watching Western films so much more interesting
Good job. Thank you for the information
Donner Pass is a nice place to have lunch
Chains on dry pavement wreck the pavement and are dangerous because they dont work on dry pavement.
Until you realize its not Just pavement but Black ice!
It's the bay area people that mess this pass up, doing 70-80 in this type of condition. Then the unprofessional truck drivers from NOT the USA that cause the big rig wrecks.
Chains are the only tool available to keep speed to 30mph or so.
You don't have to like it but it stops a lot of wrecks.
Not on wet roads they don't.
@@chpalmer2007 until you relize the wet road is actually Black ice!
need to chain up the cars to slow them down. many a time with snow on the rd, a car would blast past me, within 10 miles i would pass them up while they are trying to get out of the ditch.
donner pass kills people every year. need to respect the hill. and it becomes easy. cold winter. hot summer just take it easy never try to "make time. and you will get there safe and sound.
and the area between the summit and kyburg is a ice area. even in the summer the bridges can ice up.
Big Bear. 2" of snow and there they are, CHP chain police. I told the CHP I am a 4x4 Ford F250, from Connecticut, "I GOT THIS" he said "and a ticket". Chains, for all intent and purpose are more dangerous and useless especially with only a few inches of snow......
Pathetic!!!
Stay out of Cali if you don't like it that much whining a$$
Not true!
Yeh. That was not necessary. Damages chains and tires though-using them this way.
Dude you need to drive donkey pass in Wyoming they make you put chains ⛓ on your donkey I know my donkey slipped up their in the heavy snow ❄️
He's not lying.
That's pretty silly it sounds cruel you should report them to the SPCA
chains for wet highways, is just stupid and dangerous
Y'all can keep Commiefornia
CA DOT always have done me kindly! Once I drove from Rancho cochomongo , essentially Ontario CA to Stockton CA with 43,000 in trailer and couldn't slide my tandems to where I was legal and point was 42 inches and two scales never called me on it . Have done this a couple times and they green light me . Guess if you look like you comb your hair , clean shaven and wear non torn clothes plus your dash isn't full of 20ltrs and burger wrappers you must be a real trucker doing a job not because your a Social psycho with bad breath !
What snow don't need chains
Not as stupid as people that buy jeeps
watch out thers a flak of snow slam on your brakes dont go no more put more chains on now you need them to go down hill put some chains on the stear axel and stering weeal so you hans dont slip that will make ca dot happy !
I am in California..
Originally and VERY proudly hailing from Connecticut where we shoveled snow in flip flops and shorts. We drove in snow and ice at a skill set California's could not even imagine. He'll, in California, one rain drop or snowflake they are calling out the national guard, calling off work, and chaining up....
Not true at all!
That's BS
Road ice is real. Your chains are keeping you on the road, not your driving skills. You should’ve put your window down and told those ladies and gentlemen at the checkpoint how you really feel. I’m grateful they’re here without fail to keep people like you alive regardless of how much of you moan and gripe.
Very wrong answer!!!
Chains are one thing, if that, but your DRIVING SKILL AND EXPERIENCE are ABSOLUTELY what keeps you on the road. Born and raised in CT with 9 years of Winter driving experience. I had a VW Beetle and Ford F250 4x4 Xcab w/12" lift n Super Stampers AND Mickey Thompsons. Neither vehicle, did I ever need chains much less think about them. New England winters n NorEasters were anything to laugh at. Drove in ALL kinds of snow and ice.. STUDDED all terrains
@@billm4133 No need to yell, but I’m still correct.
@@thetomasloretta .....Whoa there fella... Stop being a follower. The caps are intended to HIGHLIGHT...
@@billm4133 “Very wrong answer!!!” That’s you, yelling, correct? No need for insults either. We get all types in the Sierra Nevada telling us where they’re from and how everyone there knows how to drive perfectly in snow and ice. I’m happy for you in CT but that’s not reality in the Sierras. In order to keep the interstate freeways open rigs and 2wd vehicles are required to use chains when told.
"Wrong answer pal"
Driving skills AND experience are requisites of this trade. Its not the chains "per say" that are saving lives and accidents. Certainly not safety crews and ambulance chasers. I know your argument here. You want to make this 5th grade we can. You want to do 545 Statistics we can.
What is killing us, on any highway and in all conditions is the unskilled driver playing operator paid for by your tax dollar to put another driver on the road after three weeks of training.
CHAINS are just the opposite of the skilled operator and those of us that KNOW Donner Pass, Independence Pass, Cabbage Patch, Grapevine, The Devils Twins, Big Bear, Wells, Pigeon River-Green River Basins, Connecticut, Maine, Up-State New York, Bismarck, so on. YOUR big trucking company's for this entire area of Donner Pass teach Chaining-up. THEY DO NOT TEACH SKILL OF THE TRADE. Period.
The chains are used as a "trade-off" for the requisite skills. Shouting or highlighted bothers me not how you look at this situation. What bothers me is the lack of enthusiasm and motivation to train the drivers as operators for the sake of a dollar and a cheap (over priced/over rated) stafford loan sitting in a warm cubicle doing these exact trade-offs. Screw a chain. Get off the road, stop the truck or get yourself a helicopter pilot or a donkey w/a wheelbarrow and deliver your own textbooks, kubota's, little red shoes and General Mills pop-tarts.
So since the weather will change in a moments notice there, is no different anywhere else. Driving skills AND experience pays off regardless of a damn chain. If you need chains...STOP. Chains stay in the bags, not hanging behind a fuel tank to get a "pass" at the scale house for the green light to keep your load going.
My equipment is not worth your load assignment. My "life" will not hang in the balance based on a tire chain. STOP.
STOP.
You know you are a wannabe when you have mirrors mounted on your hood
Hood-mounted and fender-mounted mirrors are often convex mirrors with deep curves to help truckers when changing lanes and backing into spaces. Learn something before opening your trap.
@@pattygonzales9605 kiss my ass. I know exactly what the purpose of the mirrors are sparky. I’m sitting in my tenth and last Kenworth W 900. I know more about trucks than you will ever know. Turned my first mile in 79’. It’s sad and pathetic what has happened to the trucking industry. Ugly tractors that are never washed driven by depressed and angry assholes who drive angry. The chronic tailgating and illegal and unsafe lane changes have disgusted the public. Back in the day there were good looking rigs drivers were proud to drive. We were the “ Knights of the highway.”When you mount mirrors on your hood/ fenders you ruin the look of a tractor. Doesn’t really matter when the overall look of the vehicle is ugly. I’ll be done by Christmas and happy to get off the road. Weary of sharing the road with escapees from mental hospitals. If you can’t drive a rig without mirrors on your hood you have no business driving. 3.35 million miles without them so that’s proof they are unnecessary. It’s an insurance company mandate in many cases
@@pattygonzales9605 I’ve climbed Donner Pass hundreds of times in all conditions and have never needed mirrors on my hood to get the job done. I’ve changed lanes millions of times and never needed hood mounted mirrors to do so. I guess when you drive a piece of shit it doesn’t matter if you Mount mirrors on your hood
Those hood mirrors are great to see traffic coming up when turning wide
@@Bigruss974 I’ve driven 3.5 million miles without ugly mirrors mounted on my hood. They look terrible.
Maybe they are just trying to keep the big rigs from speeding?